Here is my problem. When I get a problem directly after takeoff in the 744 and want to return to my departure airport I goto the FMC ARR/DEP page and select ARR off my dep airport and then the runway I want to land on. 100% of the time I will get a 'not in database' error. Tried downgrading my airrac data but it still happens. If I select the runway 1/2 through the flight for my arrival airport everything works fine.So, what am I doing wrong and what is the correct procedure for returning to your departure airport in case of an emergency?FRED

When you press the DEP ARR key, it should bring you straight to the arrivals for your departure airport (in most cases) without having to enter any additional keystrokes. You then narrow it down to the runway you want to land on, which will then subtract any other approaches not pertaining to that runway.If you aren't seeing the approaches in there, well, sometimes it's tough luck. Unfortunately the data for FS isn't as recent or as throughly updated as real world data. Sometimes you'll have old approaches, some approaches that don't exist anymore, and new approaches (same applies for DPs). My guess is that these approaches simply aren't in the database, unless I'm misunderstanding something.

Close... the runways and procedures shown by the FMC are based on sidstar data... always current if downloaded from one of several sources. Thank goodness we only rely on FS9 for scenery and not navigation data.The PMDG Ops wiki support has more info on sidstars (see also the manual).

I was unaware of this! I was under the impression that it was the same thing as the "other guys", but I guess not!

>When you press the DEP ARR key, it should bring you straight>to the arrivals for your departure airport (in most cases)>without having to enter any additional keystrokes. You then>narrow it down to the runway you want to land on, which will>then subtract any other approaches not pertaining to that>runway.You see, this is the problem. When I click on 21R for FAJS for example I get a 'NOT IN DATABASE' error but when I do a flight from FADN - FAJS I can select 21R for landing without a hitch!Something is either screwy with my installation or I am doing something very wrong ;)Granted I have not tested this at LAX or Seattle yet, will do that tonight to see what happens.FRED

That was another guess. Could just be a problem with that airport. I'm out of ideas!

I've looked through the manuals and haven't found a method to return to origin... and I haven't tried it yet. Would you need to copy and paste the origin into the destination on the RTE page?

Tried a flight from KLAX - KSEA and I could goto arr page for KLAX and select a runway to land on. You need to make the runway the active waypoint but that is understandable so look like Johannesburg has a problem. The question now is, what? Since landing there on a flight from another airport works 100% it does not make sense really!

Could be a number of things for Johannesburg(sp?), and could even be realistic to not allow the aircraft to land on that runway due to length? Highly unlikely, but a possibility. I'm sure there is a way to fix that.About returning to the Origin Airport, here is what you need to do. First, as was mentioned, you need a waypoint to go to. I suppose you could do this by getting the ATC cleared to point and entering it in directly (assuming you are returning because of an emergency or abnormal situation) or you can go to the DEP ARR page. FMC logic has the page set up to USUALLY bring up the DEParture airports ARRivals for a good portion of the first part of the flight, however, if it was fiddled with before hand, this might not work. If it doesn't, no sweat, just press the index prompt on 6L and it should bring you back to where you can select the ARRivals for the DEParture airport. Hope this makes sense!

FredThis is a problem with Smuts. Had the same thing myself.You need to upgrade the AFCAD file for FAJS, and have the current nav data.Try the DEP/ARR procedure from FACT and it should work fine.Peter